I took a rest day today after a hard few days training as the body needs time to recover.
Ironman is not just a physical challenge but a huge mental challenge as well so today I met with a friend in Edinburgh who is working with that side of the race. I believe that if you prepare properly for any event, turn up at the start physically ready but are not in the right frame of mind you're performance will suffer. Sometimes I think I can do anything but in my darker moments my head fills with bad thoughts about my limitations.
So today we looked at the aspects that help drive success and how rated my performance in comparison to a champion. It was fascinating stuff. One of the people I respect most is Chrissie Wellington. When she decides she is going to do something nothing will get in her way and she does it to the best of her ability. She had a big bike crash just before heading out to the world championships in Kona a few years ago but went on to win the race and retired from Ironman undefeated. Incredible!
So obviously I am not in Chrissie Wellington's league but I have yet to make the start line of an Ironman in peak physical condition. So I was looking for the reasons behind this and have made a couple of decisions to help give myself the best opportunity to go for a sub 13 (my ambitious target for the Ireman) finish. These are to look at the sessions that I'm doing and make sure that I'm doing them right, to wear a heart rate monitor to get a better handle on my training thresholds and zones, the third is to give up alcohol until the race and finally improve my diet.
The first two are pretty straightforward but as most people know I do enjoy a glass of red and a beer from time to time. The issue is that they are just empty calories and I believe, rightly or wrongly, that it slows the metabolism making the fat burning body less efficient. I might be entirely wrong but someone told me this once and he knows what he's talking about. So it's time to put the talk into action and make sure that I turn up in County Down in peak condition.
They say that if you write something down then it is more likely you will stick on the path so I thought I would record it here so that people that know me won't be surprised when I'm on the soda and lime on a night out. I'm looking at my diet and Danielle is helping by selecting a menu that is going to take out refined carbohydrates (plus a lot of the other stuff I love) from our diet. So with these small changes I hope to get my body fat percentage right down and finally feel I'm not the fattest lad on the start line.
When I decided to do another Ironman I also decided that if I am going to put myself through the torture I am going to go as fast as I can. These changes will help me towards my goal and if I develop a winning mentality I'm pretty sure I can achieve the sub 13 that is my target. It's going to take the support of friends and in Danielle I have my number one supporter. She is amazing at coming up with positive suggestions that are incredibly helpful and as she knows me inside out, she helps me believe that I can do the things I want to do.
So let the wagons roll, it's time to cut the chunk to get myself ready to stand on the start in County Down in the shape of my life........
No comments:
Post a Comment